Most savory, crunchy foods can be given a sweet makeover with the right creative inspiration. Potato chips and pretzels are a good place to start because they have a relatively neutral flavor — they both make appearances in Milk Bar’s famous Compost Cookies. Coating pretzels in white chocolate is another great way to start experimenting with salty-sweet flavors.
More strongly flavored treats can be a bit trickier to work into desserts, but the key is to think about what tasting notes snack foods and desserts might have in common. For example, when Christina Tosi was recently asked to make a Cheetos-flavored cake for the brand’s 75th anniversary, she honed in on the shared dairy flavor of cheddar cheese and vanilla birthday cake. The cake let her fulfill a lifetime dream of creating a delicious cheddar-based dessert. “As a teenager, I was always trying to figure out how to make a cheddar cheese cookie,” she said. Cheddar on apple pie is already a thing, so why not Cheetos in cake?
The Cheetos 75th birthday cake is available for purchase from the Milk Bar Store while supplies last.